Bad Orb Castle

Bad Orb Castle
Street view of the castle ruins with the "modern keep"
Creation time :	first mentioned 1064
Castle type :	Hilltop castle
Conservation status:	restored hall
Place:	Bad Orb
Geographical location	50 ° 13 '36.9 "  N , 9 ° 20' 45.1"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 13 '36.9 "  N , 9 ° 20' 45.1"  E
Height:	180  m above sea level NHN

The castle Bad Orb is a mountain castle next to the church of St. Martin on 180  meters above sea level. NHN above the old town (Burgring 14) of the spa town of Bad Orb in the Main-Kinzig district in Hesse .

history

The castle was first mentioned in a document in 1064 and was initially owned by the Lords of Büdingen , later part of the city fortifications. After Orb belonged to the Archbishopric of Mainz in 1328 , it was the administrative seat of the Mainz officials. In 1428 it was pledged to the Counts of Hanau and in 1566 the pledge was redeemed. Archbishop Daniel Brendel von Homburg had the castle rebuilt in the Renaissance style around 1570 . The palas of the castle temporarily served as the residence of the von Milchling family . A tithe barn was built on the west side of the castle in 1621 (set up as the “guest house” and lecture hall in 1981–1982). After the Thirty Years War , the castle was no longer inhabited and used as a fruit store.

In 1865 the Hanau company Oldenkott & Co. bought the building and used it as a cigar factory. From 1988 an access tower with a staircase and elevator was added to the building and the ensemble was used as a municipal museum.

A double arched window on the north gable can be dated to the 12th century and fragments of three large arched windows on the east and west facades from around 1570 have been preserved.

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  General view of the castle with the church tower of Martinskirche behind it on the right

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  View of the castle ruins with the city wall in the foreground

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  View of the hall and tithe barn from the old town

Significance in building history

The remains of the castle now consist of a three-storey solid building with a gable roof . Doors and window openings are from the 19th century. At its core it is a 13th century building that was renewed with the renovations around 1570. The central pillars and presumably also the beams of the structure were created in the process. A coat of arms of the von Milchling family from 1576 was found over a cellar entrance; this suggests that a von Milchling exercised the function of bailiff. A coupled arched window was exposed and reconstructed during the last renovation. The conversion and expansion of the former castle in Bad Orb into a modest Renaissance building has only received a few components that no longer allow any statements about the overall appearance of the entire complex.

Todays use

The remains of the castle are now owned by the Main-Kinzig district. The city museum is located in the buildings.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Let's go to the Tour de Burg: Castles and palaces, villas and country estates in the Main-Kinzig district , Adventure Cooperation Hanau, 1993, 287 pages; therein: Marianne Jacoby-Zakfeld: Burg Bad Orb , p. 45 f.

literature

• Waltraud Friedrich: Cultural monuments in the Main-Kinzig district II.1. Bad Orb, Biebergemünd, Birstein, Brachttal, Freigericht. Ed .: State Office for Monument Preservation Hessen , Theiss, Stuttgart 2011, ISBN 978-3-8062-2469-6 ( Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany ), p. 97.
• Georg Ulrich Großmann : South Hesse. Art guide. Imhof, Petersberg 2004, ISBN 3-935590-66-0 , p. 152.
• Rolf Müller (Ed.): Palaces, castles, old walls. Published by the Hessendienst der Staatskanzlei, Wiesbaden 1990, ISBN 3-89214-017-0 , p. 29 f.

Web links

Commons : Burg Bad Orb  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Bad Orb Castle at kulturportal-mkk.de
• Renaissance castles in Hesse (project at the Germanic National Museum by Georg Ulrich Großmann )